President Trump's rhetoric has gradually become more openly religious and to me at least, this is very reassuring. In his remarks on Syria, he has drawn a sharp line between Muslims as humans beings, whom he described as "children of God," and the ideology which holds them in thrall, Islam.

Over the last 15 years we have answered one question: Can democracy alone tame Islam? Answer: emphatically no.

Question two: Can our "moderate" Muslim autocratic Arab allies keep a lid on jihad for now and eventually remove jihad from Islam altogether, or at least diminish the psychological power of jihad, with its promise of triumph over death? Possibly in the short-term.

Question three: Can Islam be so reformed as to allow Muslims to experience true God-given spiritual freedom, and to abandon not only jihad, but also the creed of Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong - forced conformity? If not, will Muslims ever be able to successfully integrate with the Western world, or will they (as a group) always be hostile and a danger to freedom and to peace-loving people?

Question four: If Muslims prove incapable of reforming Islam, will the world split into two mutually hostile camps with resolution only coming after bloodshed on an unprecedented scale ending with either Islam triumphant or completely destroyed? Or can the world be so segregated that the Islamic world could be completely contained and left to prosecute their never-ending internicine wars with no access to or interference from the West or far East?

9 Apr 2017John BaleWith regard to Q 3 and 4 I think the only hope lies with the Quranist movement. They should be given all possible help.

10 Apr 2017jewdog

Let's keep in mind that while religion affects a culture, culture can affect religion. Even if Islam is doctrinally immutable, a healthy culture can filter out its militancy, since religion is ultimately practised by humans. Right now, Islamic culture is not doing a very good job of filtering.

As for Trump, it's refreshing to have someone passionate in the White House after eight years of the Iceman. The last time we saw that sort of passion was when Reagan was President. Now that we know that Trump has a heart, let's hope that he also has a brain.